In such a shifting arrangement, the path selection takes place through a displacement of the speed selection lever transversely to the direction of travel and the gear shifting forwards and backwards with respect to the travel direction.
In a shifting console mounted within the reach of the driver all transmission functions needed to shift a transmission are established and are transmitted via a pressure medium to the selection- and shifting cylinders mounted on the gearing and acting upon the gear-shift-lever shaft.
Depending on the type of the gear transmission, for instance main transmission only or a main transmission in combination with an auxiliary transmission, or a multispeed transmission with torque path splitting, the demands on such a shifting arangement are very high, since not only must the desired shifting be transmitted via a pressure medium, but also as known in a mechanically shifted gear box, it is necessary to provide feedback information, recognizable by the driver regarding the shifting status in the gear box itself.
Such an arrangement in the form of a pneumatical shifting arrangement is known from British Pat. No. 1 179 426, and has a shifting console with a speed selection lever shiftable in the gear-shifting gate with a double H shifting pattern for eight forward speeds and one reverse speed. The shift locks act upon the manual shift lever depending upon the position of the clutch via two locking cylinders and a rocker shaft and the feedback about the selected path is mechanically released at the shifting cylinder via pilot valves.
Such arrangements can no longer satisfy the requirements of a shifting arrangement in a modern transmission, which needs for the transmission of the selection and shifting alone a large number of conduit connections and are cumbersome from the point of view of manufacturing and tuning.